Senior Manufacturing Engineer

Role Overview

As our Senior Manufacturing Engineer, you’ll own the integrity of the production process from prototype to full-rate manufacturing. You will be the connective tissue between design, manufacturing, and quality—ensuring that our builds are repeatable, efficient, and reliable. You’ll play a critical role in developing robust manufacturing processes, executing quality assurance strategies, and continuously improving product reliability in a mission-critical environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize manufacturing workflows, tooling, and fixtures.
• Design custom fixtures and assembly aids to improve safety, efficiency, and consistency.
• Create build documentation including work instructions, travelers, and visual aids.
• Work hands-on with technicians, assemblers, and engineers on the floor to streamline builds and resolve issues in real-time.
• Partner with contract manufacturers and internal teams to scale production.
• Participate directly in prototype and production builds to validate processes, tooling, and assembly instructions.
• Lead root cause analysis and corrective/preventive actions (RCAs and CAPAs) for production failures or field returns.
• Collaborate with design engineering to incorporate DFM/DFA best practices and ensure design-for-reliability.

• Root Cause analysis for manufacturing process

Who You Are

• You thrive in ambiguity and enjoy solving hard problems with limited resources.
• You're equally comfortable on the manufacturing floor and in design review meetings.
• You believe quality and speed are not mutually exclusive.
• You take ownership and drive continuous improvement without waiting for permission.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical, or Manufacturing Engineering (or similar technical field).
• 7+ years of experience in manufacturing, quality, or reliability engineering—preferably in aerospace, defense, or high-reliability hardware environments.
• Proficient in 3D CAD design using SolidWorks, Creo, or similar tools—experience designing fixtures, tooling, and assembly aids is a strong plus.
• Hands-on experience with mechanical/electromechanical system builds and test setups.
• Solid understanding of DFM/DFA, root cause analysis, FMEA/PFMEA, SPC, and other reliability and quality methodologies.
• Familiarity with quality standards and systems such as AS9100, ISO 9001, or MIL-STD compliance.
• Comfortable working across ERP/MRP and PLM systems (e.g., NetSuite, Odoo, Arena).
• Strong communication skills and a bias toward action—able to thrive in a fast-paced, build-focused environment.
  
  

ITAR REQUIREMENTS:

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.  

About the Company:

We are a stealth-mode Aerospace & Defense startup headquartered in Gardena, CA. Our founding team hails from SpaceX, Anduril, and Lockheed Martin, and we are backed by Joint Staff-level military leadership and top-tier Silicon Valley rms. We're assembling a high urgency team committed to moving fast, solving hard problems, and defending what matters most. With a world-class business development & leadership team already in place, we are well positioned to capitalize on already overwhelming demand.